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24.3.09

Bean Bush Royal Burgundy One Seed Chicago

I've made my seed selection for One Seed Chicago. The bean I will be growing will be Bean Bush 'Royal Burgundy' from Botanical Interests because I think the pods will make interesting garden photos. Botanical Interests, like Renee's Garden, is a sponsor of Chicago Spring fling.

I'm the kind of gardener that will buy seeds from wherever I can, but these two seed companies are making me consider buying exclusively from and endorsing smaller seed companies in my gardening endeavors. Their embrace and support of garden bloggers is enough to make me come to this realization and their seed packets are impressive enough to seal the deal.

In the post 'Edible Gardening in 2009' I provided pictures of the seed packets from Renee's Garden to illustrate just how much seed sowing information is part of the seed packaging. Botanical Interests also uses the seed packets to provide good information on the seeds they sell.

The front of the seed packet gives you information on sowing the seeds and how long it will be until you can harvest your crop. Flip the seed packet over and you can cut out a plant label that has been provided for you with all of the necessary information from how long it takes to emerge, how deep to plant the seeds, how to space them and thinning of seedlings.

Before you go opening the seed packet or cutting out the plant label that has been provided, you may want to carefully open the seed pack and look inside. The inside of the seed packet has been printed with all the seed starting tips and information on growing the mature plants and harvesting your crop. There is even an illustration of what the seedling looks like to help identify them and information on how you can use the crop in the kitchen.

I've been part of a few seed swaps and have read many gardening forums and it seems to me seed suppliers usually get blamed for selling "bad seeds" when in reality the reason the seed sowing attempt failed was because of gardener error. Even green thumbs sometimes need a few tips, especially with seeds they've never grown before. But more importantly, newbie gardeners and experienced gardeners new to growing from seed need the information the seed packets from Renee & Botanical Interests provide. They leave little room to blame the seed source if seeds don't germinate or the plants don't do well.

It is also a very clever marketing because unless you're a seed nerd seed packets get tossed; but these seed packets are designed to be more than gardening ephemera. These seed packets are for keeping and are intended to be used as reference material. The next time you're looking to buy seeds for your garden you're likely to find the empty packet in your seed bin or desk drawer and remember the success you had with these companies and order from them again. They also make garden geeks like myself, who feel like the large seed companies should provide more information on seed packets, write posts fawning over these well designed seed packets.

I'm probably not the only hobby gardener that has ever wanted to start his or her own seed company and I'll probably not be the last. If that dream ever comes to fruition I'll have inspiration from two seed companies on how to sell seeds- the right way.

If you're new to gardening or starting seeds you may find these previous posts of mine useful.

If you need gardening information try Google for Gardeners. It is the a custom Google search engine where I hand-pick only the best gardening websites for inclusion. It isn't for shopping but for finding information about gardening.

20 comments:

What a beautiful bean! Thanks for the information... I may be dreaming, but I'm hoping to help a neighbor garden in return for the use of part of her garden space! This would be a wonderfully beautiful addition.

Great choice, MBT! I have grown Royal Burgundy many times in the past, and they're not only lovely to photograph, they're also delicious. When they turn green from purple, they're cooked (enough for me, anyway). Have fun with them.

Love seeing the seek packet photo on your blog. Those are my two favorite seed companies as well, and I am disappointed when I buy something else and go looking for information only to realize there isn't any "there" there. How little it would take for everyone to provide the info. I feel the same way about catalogs. My new favorite is High Country Gardens -- for all the info they provide on all their plants, including whether they are deer and/or rabbit resistant, which is must-have info for me.

I just discovered Renee's Garden and Botanical Interests at my local nursery and it was love at first sight! I must be the last one to find them because the were nearly sold out of everything (esp. Botanical Interests) while other seed brand displays were full! Just stumbled upon your blog...look forward to reading more!

Hi Everyone, Sorry for the delay in replying as I've been really busy lately with the group organizing Spring Fling.

To answer the question about the navigation bar really quickly, you can learn how to do it by visiting http://www.GardenBloggers.com in the Table of Contents link there you should find the tutorial on how I did mine.

Thank you for linking these seed vendors! I am especially frustrated this year with seed packets/catalogs, because I'm dabbling in veggies for the first time in many years and the info I need is scattered! I get the seed pack from some vendors, and it just says what's in it! Some others only give general info for that type of veggie, and almost NONE list germination times/temps/light requirements! I've resorted to cutting the description off the catalog to tape on the packet so I can remember for next year...never have I seen a seed packet loaded with so much info! Very cool.

I've grown a purple variety of bean in the past (can't recall exactly which one), and it was much easier to harvest than the typical green kind--color contrast against the foliage. The kids didn't even mind helping pick them. By the way, I hope your dream does come to fruition.

Feel free to leave a comment. You can always use the search box for my blog or the search "Google For Gardeners" if you're looking for gardening information. If you're looking for seed saving information check out "Seed Snatcher"search engine.

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